Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Underworld or it's characters, so don't sue. The other characters and subsequent storylines are mine, so don't infringe. Many Thanks.
Chapter TwentyOne - The Hour is Nigh
Olivia kicked furiously at Eston with her bare feet. He'd somehow managed to extricate himself from the crowd and was once again attempting to shackle her legs.
Markus brushed him aside impatiently. "There's no time for that now!" He reached up and, to Olivia's horror, removed his mask.
Olivia stared at Markus with dread fascination. She had expected to come face to face with a hideous monster. Instead, she found herself looking into a handsome, patrician face that was shockingly attractive. His long, reddish-gold hair was swept regally back from a high brow, flowing past his broad shoulders to hang down his back. Markus gazed back at her with blue eyes full of a fierce intelligence, but that was misleading, for there was a madness lurking deep within the cobalt depths, if one looked close enough.
Olivia was looking close enough.
"Please don't do this." She whispered.
Markus laughed, pulling the gloves from his hands slowly, finger by finger. "Hush, now. There's nothing to fear from me. I'm about to make you the strongest immortal to ever walk the earth! Just think…" he stated, tossing the gloves to the floor. "You're going to be the first pureblood Hybrid. Now, isn't that exciting?"
His heavy robe soon followed the gloves and Markus stood before her, clothed in an embroidered silk shirt and tailored pants. His behavior was completely opposite of what Olivia had expected. Markus should have been raving, frothing at the mouth, tearing at his hair…anything besides the calm and collected posture he was showing her.
"But I don't want to be a Hybrid. I want to stay a human!" Olivia pleaded.
Markus, in the process of rolling up his sleeves, paused. He quirked a brow at her in amusement. "Don't be absurd, you silly chit."
Then he waved a hand negligently through the air, "Ah, but there's really nothing to discuss, is there? It will all be over soon and then you'll be on your knees thanking me for saving you from a mortal existence. An existence that would have been spent in the arms of a Lycan, no less."
"Lucian's here, you know. He's coming for me." Olivia stated flatly, willing her voice not to tremble. "And he'll kill you for ever daring to lay a hand on me."
"More astute words have never been spoken, Olivia."
Markus went deathly still and Olivia's head snapped to the side. The image of her lover shimmered as her eyes filled with tears. "Lucian…"
Lucian's gaze shifted suddenly to Markus. Olivia followed suit and to her horror, saw that Markus' blue eyes had changed into the midnight black of a Hybrid. His skin was a glossy gray, not quite as dark as Michael's Hybrid skin, but still, it marked him for what he was. The graceful carriage of the Vampyres was accentuated in Markus' Hybrid form and his fangs were longer, sharper than they should have been.
Markus glanced at Lucian, a mocking smile on his face.
"This is an oddly familiar position, is it not, Lucian?" Markus clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "You're too late…yet again."
With a horrid, hungry growl, Markus opened his jaws wide and bent to his bride.Olivia caught a flash of movement from the corner of her eye, but she knew that Markus was right. Lucian was too late.
She couldn't hold back her screams of terrified anguish as Markus' Hybrid incisors pierced the tender skin of her neck. An agonizing burn flowed through her like liquid fire as the Hybrid virus began infecting her bloodstream within seconds. It shredded her human cells, replacing them with monstrous ones. Olivia writhed from the pain, arching her back and pulling against the chains that held her down, screaming until her throat was raw.
Her vision blurred, yet she could still make out a pale figure as it streaked through the air over her prostrate form. She felt the brush of soft fur against her tear-damp cheek, smelled the musky maleness of the one she recognized as her mate.
Markus' fangs were torn violently from her throat and white-hot agony shot through her. Olivia's body fought against the invading virus that Markus had unleashed, but the war was short-lived. She felt the change beginning, even as a blessed darkness descended upon her.
Selene and Michael reached the Elder's Sanctuary just as Lucian, in his full Lycan form, slammed into Markus. The two powerful immortals hit the floor in a mass of limbs and razor sharp teeth, growls and hissing issuing forth from the combatants. Olivia gave one last agonized cry, then her thrashing suddenly stopped. Michael rushed forward, desperation clutching at his heart. Blood oozed from the ragged puncture wounds in Olivia's throat, running in twin rivulets to pool beneath her, staining her auburn curls an unnatural shade of red. She was so pale and still. He couldn't even tell if she was breathing.
"Michael!"
Selene's cry drew his attention from Olivia and he turned to see Lucian fly through the air. The Lycan smashed against a pillar with enough force to create a jagged crack that ran like lightening through the ancient stone. With a yelp of pain, Lucian struggled to rise as Markus slowly advanced on him. Michael let loose with a roar that came from the depths of his being and charged the other Hybrid.
The intensity of the collision between the two Hybrids caused them both to stagger and fall to the floor. Michael's hands curled around Markus' throat in a attempt to strangle him into unconsciousness, if not death, but Markus was strong and Michael was used to fighting Lycan's and Vampyres, not another of his own kind. He wasn't prepared for the strength of his opponent as Markus shoved his own arms between Michael's. Markus forced Michael to relinquish his grip or face having his arms broken. When he did let go, Markus moved in for the kill, but Michael was quick and Markus' fangs sank deep into his shoulder, missing his neck by a few scant inches. Michael tore himself free from the other's grasp and rolled away in a daze. Selene used the moment to unload her Beretta's into the other Hybrid, but it didn't even slow Markus down.
He moved with the speed that only an immortal possesses and reached Lucian within seconds, raising the Lycan Leader above his head triumphantly. Though Lucian struggled, snarling and snapping his bone crushing jaws at his captor, he could not escape and Markus prepared to crush the Lycan's spine.
There was nothing that either Selene or Michael could do to stop him.
Olivia awoke from her unconscious state swiftly. There was no lingering drowsiness to suggest that anything traumatic had occurred. The sickening, burning agony that had been all encompassing a moment ago was gone. In its stead was a mind-clearing power. Her vision was sharper than it had ever been. She could see spiders spinning their webs at the highest reaches of the vaulted ceiling. Her hearing was enhanced as well. The anguished moans of injured Vampyres in the upper reaches of the mansion reached her clearly.
And she could hear Lucian, struggling for his very life against Markus.
Markus…the defiler of her body…rapist of her soul.
A passionate wrath took over her and Olivia yanked her arms upward, feeling the chains that bound her wrists pull free from their stone moorings. Within the blink of an eye, she found herself facing Markus on the other side of the room, her lover held prisoner within his clutches.
Olivia used the only weapons she had at hand, the chains that had left her helpless in the face of Markus' insane whimsy. She twirled them over her head, hearing the spinning, whirring sound intensify as they picked up speed.
Then she let the chains loose.
They wrapped around Markus' legs, gouging deep into his flesh, spraying her with his blood. His grip on Lucian slipped and the Lycan dropped free, twisting in mid-air to land nimbly on his feet. Markus tottered to the ground, trying vainly to reach the binding chains as Olivia drew him towards herself with a vicious tug on the metal links.
"You have given me strength such as I never imagined, Markus. Strength that I never wanted, power that I begged not to have. I can't change that now, but there is one thing I want you to know, before you die…" Olivia's voice was hushed, but everyone heard her words. "…I am Lucian's bride, not yours."
As though by mutual consent, the two lovers fell on the prostrate form of their nemesis and ended his reign of terror in a moment of animalistic rage.
